Six French citizens who were planning to travel to Syria have had their passports confiscated. It’s the first time it’s happened since new counter-terrorism laws were introduced to stop French nationals joining militant groups in the Middle East.

Another 40 similar cases are currently under investigation,
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said on Monday.

The six alleged jihadists were about to leave, security sources
told AFP, adding their passports and identity cards have been
taken away for six months, though this time period can be
extended if deemed necessary.

The ability to seize passports and identity cards of those
suspected of traveling abroad to join militant groups was passed
in November as part of an anti-terrorism bill.

"Today, six administrative bans on leaving the country have
been signed, another 40 are in preparation," Cazeneuve told
reporters outside the Interior Ministry.

"We wanted this measure ... because if French people leave to
commit actions in Iraq and Syria, upon their return they
represent an even greater danger for the national territory and
risk committing wide-scale terrorist acts."

The French government believes around 1,400 French citizens have
links to recruitment cells set up by militant Islamist groups in
Syria and Iraq, while around 400 people have already traveled to
the Middle East to fight for groups such as the Islamic State.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said, “There will be
more” people who will have their passports confiscated.

France has been on high alert following terrorist attacks in
Paris in January, which left 17 people dead. The country has a
large Muslim population, and a number of Muslims worldwide were
angered by the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo’s decision
to publish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, considered blasphemy
in Islam.

Nearly a month after the attacks, the Islamic State reportedly
threatened France with more attacks and called for French Muslims
to join the new “caliphate.”

A video showed a masked individual surrounded by armed fighters
calling on French Muslims to take up the cause for the creation
of an “Islamic caliphate,” which has taken root in parts of Iraq
and Syria.

The group is also demanding that the French government release
suspected jihadists detained for participating in the fighting in
the Middle East.

Meanwhile, Al-Qaeda in Yemen, who claimed to have carried out the
Paris terror attacks said France has surpassed the US to become
Islam’s main enemy.